Hi questers, this is my submission for Part A of the SHINE Quest prompt 1. My story relates to an experience I observed while working in a retail department store while in college.
While working customer service at a department store almost 5 years ago, I had some female colleagues working towards management positions. Our general store manager at this time was an older man who often had misogynistic tendencies while treating the women who worked for him poorly and unfair. This story happened to my friend, however I observed our manager take hours away from my friend after she was denied a management position that she applied and was overqualified for. The position went to a much younger, and under qualified teenage boy straight out of high school. Enraged, my friend went straight to headquarters to enlighten them on the behavior their store manager was displaying. After headquarters investigated the situation in greater detail, they discovered that this manager failed to grant quarterly raises to the majority of (only) female associates working at our store. For obvious reasons, this store manager was terminated from not only his manager position, but from the entire store franchise.
The positive that came out of this story was that my friend was given a 10% raise, in addition to being promoted to the general store manager title. My friend was just one of hundreds of thousands of women being discriminated against in the workplace based on their gender/sex. According to the Equal Rights website, “Your employer is required by law to provide a safe working environment that is not “hostile” to you based on your sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation” (2021). As a diverse individual, one must know and understand their rights. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against you based on your sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. This was extended in June of 2020 to protect gender identity and sexual orientation. Today, research finds that “87 percent of North American companies report gender diversity as a top priority” (Krishnan et al., 2021). Moving forward, the barriers that are in place against women and other diverse individuals that challenge their success in the workplace need to be removed entirely as to ensure a fair and diverse working environment for everyone.
Resources:
Gender discrimination at work. Equal Rights Advocates. (2021, June 15). Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.equalrights.org/issue/economic-workplace-equality/discrimination-at-work/.
Krishnan, M., Madgavkar, A., Ellingrud, K., Yee, L., Hunt, V., White, O., & Mahajan, D. (2021, April 10). Ten things to know about gender equality. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/ten-things-to-know-about-gender-equality.
Responding to ZF's statement and question: "The link below outlines the argument posed that while the men are pay significantly more, but also generating more income. Should this matter?" I am continuing the discussion from eweis3's response that "yes, it does matter, and it should continue to matter" and jdelm2's statement that "There must be a fair and diverse working environment for every individual."
I have a question based on this discussion: Why do men generate more income than women? The article you mentioned is about sports, specifically soccer, but this issue of men being paid more than women for the same work is a broader issue.
There is clear data and a number of reasons that I found. As I mentioned earlier: "According to the Shriver Report released in 2014, women’s average annual paychecks reflected only 77 cents for every $1.00 earned by men. Specifically for women of color, the gap is even wider: In comparison to a white, non-Hispanic man’s dollar, African American women earn only 64 cents and Latinas just 55 cents" (NOW, 2021).
If men are paid this much more than women, should it be surprising that men generate more income in sports or in other sectors?
This is part of the same devaluation of women and trivialization of women's work whether in the home or in the workplace outside of home (US Census, 2019; Cooky & Hecstrom, 2013; OECD, 2020; Crouse, 2013). Who is valued in society? Whose work is valued? Not women nor work done by women.
For example, in relation to sports, "Crouse comments on the continued paucity of coverage for women’s sports, not only in traditional media but in today’s multimedia world. She observes, some 40 years after the passage of Title IX and significant advances in girls’ participation in high school sports, that women’s sports are infrequently covered by televised news media and, when coverage does occur, that women’s sports are devalued with female athletes often sexually objectified or trivialized" (Crouse, 2013). Is it a surprise that men generate more income when women's sports are infrequently covered by the media? Why would advertisers put their money into women if there is no venue to see them play? This is important. Why are women devalued as compared with men?
Can you believe that being a mother actually devalues women in our society today, even as it increases the wages of fathers (World Economic Forum, 2019)?
Here is an example: As a mom I took 15 years off to raise my family and held, at one point, four part-time science instructor jobs so that I could make enough money to pay for classes for my family and also schedule my teaching gigs around my family's schedule. And now that my family is grown up, what about me and my ability to obtain work in my areas of interest and ability? Who will give someone nearly 20 years out of school a chance when they can hire a recent graduate? Which employer will accept my 15 years of part-time work and volunteering? Is it any surprise that the World Economic Forum says:
"There's evidence of a wage penalty for motherhood: all else being equal, there is a negative relationship between a woman’s wage and the number of children she has. According to OECD data, the motherhood penalty amounts to about a 7% wage reduction per child. There is also some evidence of a fatherhood premium: a positive relationship between a man’s wage and the number of children he has" (World Economic Forum, 2019).
Note. Screen shot by J.Seron from World Economic Forum (2019).
Figure 2: Global Average Annual Earnings of Men and Women
Note. Screen shot by J. Seron from World Economic Forum (2019).
"The impact of pay inequality is dramatic over a woman’s lifetime. Having worked less in formal employment, but having carried out much more unpaid work at home, many women will retire on lower pensions and see out their final years in poverty. Living an average of nearly 6 years longer than men, women over 65 are today more than one and a half times more likely to live in poverty than men in the same age bracket" (OECD, 2020).
If you're feeling like this has nothing to do with you, think about the person who is your biological mother. Why should she and/ or other women in the workplace be financially penalized for being women or for being moms?
What is the solution? Maybe until women are valued equally for our work both in and out of the home, instead of striking on the job, women around the globe should do a boycott on making new children until nations, states, localities, and all people decide to value women (including as mothers) for our service to the perpetuation and education of the human species.
Yes, this should matter! References
Cooky, C., Messner, M. A., Hextrum, R. H. (2013). Women play sport, but not on TV: A longitudinal study of televised news media. Communication & Sport, 1, 203–230. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2167479513487722
National Organization for Women. (2021). Women Deserve Equal Pay.
https://now.org/resource/women-deserve-equal-pay-factsheet/
OECD. (2020, December 17). Lack of support for motherhood hurting women’s career prospects, despite gains in education and employment, says OECD.
https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/lackofsupportformotherhoodhurtingwomenscareerprospectsdespitegainsineducationandemploymentsaysoecd.htm
Tyson, L. D. & Parker, C. (2019 March 8). An economist explains why women are paid less. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/an-economist-explains-why-women-get-paid-less/
United States Census Bureau. (2019, May 29). Men & women, money & work. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/men-women-earnings-gap.html Wong, A. (2019, February). The U.S. teaching population is getting bigger, and more female: Women now make up a larger share of educators than they have in decades. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/02/the-explosion-of-women-teachers/582622/
World Economic Forum. (2019, March 8). An economist explains why women are paid less [Article and screen grabs of "Gender Income Gap 2018" and "Difference in paid and unpaid work by women and men, global average"]. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/an-economist-explains-why-women-get-paid-less/
Thank you for sharing an experience you observed while working at a retail department store! It was great that the employees recognized the discrimination and mentioned the situation to headquarters. Every individual has the right to work in an environment free of discrimination. Discrimination may take many forms and it does not have to be intentional to be illegal. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported that in 2020 there were 67,448 charges of workplace discrimination with 32% based on sex and 33% based on race. Jameel and Yerardi (2019) stated, “complaint data shows that workplace discrimination can often manifest in more subtle ways, such as the assignments workers are given, the pay or benefits they receive, and the ways their performance is judged and rewarded” (para. 13). Discrimination has effects on both the employees and the work environment. Leaders have an important role in promoting a work environment that fosters awareness and worth of a diverse workplace. By promoting diversity in the workplace, employees feel valued. (Etheridge, 2015) Promoting diversity has so many benefits, it deserves a place in all organizations; “This will not only bring productive and happy employees to the organization but will lead to development of competencies among all employees” (Etheridge, 2015, para. 8). There must be a fair and diverse working environment for every individual.
References
Etheridge, N. A. (2015). Effects of discrimination in the workplace. www.army.mil. Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/article/142799/effects_of_discrimination_in_the_workplace.
Jameel, M., & Yerardi, J. (2019). Workplace discrimination is illegal. but our data shows it's still a huge problem. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/28/18241973/workplace-discrimination-cpi-investigation-eeoc.
While the situation that you described with your friend is rooted in a deep societal issue, I was glad to hear that it had a happy ending! I think it is not only important for individuals to stand up for themselves, but friends, family and coworkers to recognize these great injustices and take an active roll in speaking up too. In order to enact change, especially for a systemic problem like gender equality as it relates to compensation, stories like these need to be told, so thank you for continuing to spread this!
My question to you involves gender pay equity as it relates to sports, and more specifically the ongoing debate with the US National men's and women's soccer teams. The link below outlines the argument posed that while the men are pay significantly more, but also generating more income. Should this matter? I'm intrigued to hear your thoughts as it pertains to this issue!
Thank you so much for your well thought out response. I appreciated your statistics in which you included regarded the lack of gender equality. I wish more people would model after my friend, it is possible that real change could follow. What can we as a society do to encourage this change?
As for your question, my initial thoughts regarding gender equality issues revolves around the feeling of frustration. It truly blows my mind that there are still countless acts of inequality happening everyday all around the world. I am beyond fortunate and privileged that I can say that I have never experienced gender discrimination, but it still breaks my heart hearing stories from my friends and loved ones.
Thank you again for your response!
Good for your friend, standing up for herself! How many times in life are we all faced with such decisions? Go along with what society and our framework hands us? Or move to a new place leaving the mess behind for others to cope with? Or try to clean it up starting with ourselves? It is a lot of pressure when you stand up against inequity in a closed environment like a family, community, or workplace. It can get really personal. Some people do not like it when you stand up because it reminds them that they did not. Standing up causes waves, forces people to shift their actions. It is hard to stand up for what you know is right when everything around says to stay quiet or just leave, move, go to a new place, new job, etc. People need to adjust to being respectful and treating all of us with tolerance. I understand that it is hard for formerly entitled, newly fearful people to adjust when they have spent their whole lives doing whatever they pleased, saying whatever they pleased, with nobody saying "Boo!" to them. Let's try to create environments within which everyone can thrive.
While the National Organization for Women (NOW) in the US is working on pay equity . . . .
"According to the Shriver Report released in 2014, women’s average annual paychecks reflected only 77 cents for every $1.00 earned by men. Specifically for women of color, the gap is even wider: In comparison to a white, non-Hispanic man’s dollar, African American women earn only 64 cents and Latinas just 55 cents" (NOW, 2021).
. . . .the United Nations is working on gender equity in different ways:
"In 18 countries, husbands can legally prevent their wives from working; in 39 countries, daughters and sons do not have equal inheritance rights; and 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence" (UN, n.d.).
"One in five women and girls, including 19 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner within the last 12 months. Yet, 49 countries have no laws that specifically protect women from such violence" (UN, n.d.).
We all need to work in our own ways to not only push for gender equity at home but also to consider what gender equity on a global scale might look like.
Consider that from a global and historic perspective, every erosion of our freedoms as women to control our lives and our bodies is a step toward a less equitable society where women are treated as chattel, marginalized out of the workplace, unable to make the most basic decisions for ourselves. We are on a slippery slope right now in the United States. How many women take for granted what women over the last 100 years, including some of our grandmothers, worked so hard to achieve.
To conclude, great post! Thanks for telling that story. Your story made me think! To those of you reading this, what do you think about gender equity issues? In your life what has happened in regard to gender equity? What stories could you tell?
Reference National Organization for Women. (2021). Women Deserve Equal Pay.
https://now.org/resource/women-deserve-equal-pay-factsheet/
UN. (n.d.). Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. UN Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/